Portland Center Stage at the Armory Nassim Portland Oregon
November 2018
City of Hillsboro Walters Cultural Arts Center Tony Furtado Hillsboro Oregon

‘The Little Prince’: flight of imagination

By MATTHEW ANDREWS This weekend at downtown Portland’s lovely Dolores Winningstad Theatre, Opera Theater Oregon premieres its new production of The Little Prince. That’s the whole run, so if you’re going you’d better get a move on. The opera—with libretto by British

From ‘Hands Up’ to ‘Cop Out’

Two years ago the August Wilson Red Door Project started its run of Hands Up, and it made the rest of Portland theater seem damn near frivolous. It was bare-bones theater, as fundamental as it gets. Set, pictures of victims of police

Photo First: Tuba Christmas

Text and Photographs by K.B. Dixon Improbable as it sounds (pun intended), Tuba Christmas is a real thing. An inspired creation, it is a mix of Santa Claus and Surrealism. An annual event in Portland since 1991, it features some 300 or

DramaWatch: God’s lottery calls Everybody’s number

“Ye think sin in the beginning full sweet, Which in the end causeth thy soul to weep, When the body lieth in clay.” — from The Summoning of Everyman: a treatise how the high father of heaven sendeth death to summon every

Unraveling family history

by LUSI LUKOVA Treguas or “Truces” is an exhibition of firsts. It is Angélica Maria Millán Lozano’s first solo show and the the first show presented at the new Fuller Rosen Gallery located in the Ford Building. The space, Fuller Rosen, is

MusicWatch Weekly: winter’s tales

Remember when opera lovers despaired of experiencing their favorite art form during Oregon’s indoor seasons? Well, after switching to a summer festival schedule last year, Portland Opera has added back a fall performance and December brings several other operatic opportunities. Opera Theater Oregon

Swinging into Nehalem

She’s been inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, the Jazz Society of Oregon’s Hall of Fame, and honored as a Jazz Legend at the San Diego Jazz Party. She’s played famed American jazz venues from New York to L.A., as

River and Elliott: Remembering two troubled princes of 1990s Portland

There’s a name you keep repeating You’ve got nothing better to do — Elliott Smith, “Alphabet Town” From James Dean to Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain to Heath Ledger, we have immortalized a constellation of famous artists—especially musicians and actors—who died young and,

Penny Arcade, back in town

Ruth Wikler first met Penny Arcade in Melbourne, Australia, in 2016 where Arcade was participating in a panel on political theater. “We got to talking and I learned that she had never performed in Portland despite touring for five decades,” says Wikler,

The strangest epic poem you’ve never heard of

Nothing was foreseen. All was imminent. — “The Fire’s Journey, Part I: The Integration of the Parents” With offices tucked away in Union Station, Portland-based Tavern Books is in the home stretch of an ambitious project that began more than five years

Accessible Arts 3: streaming sounds

by DAVID MACLAINE I began collecting records in earnest almost as soon as I got my first glimmers of the astonishing range and power of classical music. Some came from a couple of those old “Record Clubs” that sent you recordings in

Fearless Flyer

Olivia Ancona has collected plenty of passport stamps in her journey from Portland stages to the silver screen. A student and performer with The Portland Ballet, Jefferson Dancers, and Northwest Dance Project in the mid-2000s, Ancona plays the dancer Marketa in Suspiria,

DramaWatch: Holiday Edition!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! If you’re into that sort of thing. Tradition holds that the next few weeks will be dominated by Christmas cheer — and likely by Christmas hype, Christmas stress, and when it comes to the

Cranberries and the art of thanks

It’s Thanksgiving, and I hope, if you’re reading this, you’re giving yourself a little break in your day: waiting while the sweet potatoes are baking, maybe, or pausing before you pack hot dishes in the car and head out to break bread

MusicWatch Weekly: small portions

This week is more about connecting with friends and family, contemplating gratitude, and consuming vittles than imbibing music, but Oregon nevertheless offers its usual bounty of concerts this week if you know where to look. One place is in a dance performance:

Gearhart’s secret little jewel for artists

Susan Bish remembers well the first time she set foot in Gearhart’s Trail’s End Art Association gallery. It was the mid ‘80s. Bish had learned of the gallery and studio from association members she met at the Astoria swimming pool. In her

Demanding to be seen in a faceless bureaucracy

Mohamed Asem is a man between countries and cultures, which puts him squarely at odds with bureaucratic systems that crave neat little scribbled-in circles. When everything is carefully defined, there are fewer choices. No gray area. Nothing to consider or worry about.

Here is not there

by RACHEL ROSENFIELD LAFO Immigration is a hot topic these days, not only politically but also in the cultural sector as artists respond to a growing humanitarian crisis. The traveling exhibition In Transit at Blue Sky Gallery through December 30 confronts this

The hidden history of ‘Oklahoma!’

By DANIEL POLLACK-PELZNER Seventy-five years ago, as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s new musical Oklahoma! was beginning its sellout run on Broadway, the Times ran an indignant letter from Eva Paul, of Provincetown. “It is rather amusing to notice the insouciance and naïve bravado

‘Miss Julie’ still challenges the chains of convention

The Verona Studio in Salem will do some heavy lifting in the Willamette Valley’s theater scene this month. The company, based in the Reed Opera House Mall, is mounting a production of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, where the Darwinian theory of “survival

Resonance Ensemble: amplifying ‘Hidden Voices’

It’s a testimony to Portland choral group Resonance Ensemble’s sense of community that they collaborate with and share their concerts with other artists—sometimes several. At Resonance’s October 21 Hidden Voices concert, the choir shared the spotlight with journalist-turned-poet S. Renee Mitchell, BRAVO

DramaWatch: Students fall for Shakespeare

“It’s an English teacher’s remit to analyse language, but pick apart every word of Shakespeare and you’ve dissected the butterfly – pretty in parts but a nonsensical whole and certainly unable to fly.” — Mark Powell, associate director of Salisbury Playhouse, in

Black Violin: busting musical stereotypes

“We’ve been stereotyped from the moment we picked up the instruments,”Black Violin violist Wil Baptiste Jr. told me in 2016. “Every time we step on stage, we shatter every stereotype, every perception — violin, classical music, black man, whatever.” Baptiste and his high school

DanceWatch Weekly: Pre-Holiday Dance Treats

Good news: the Oregon dance scene is thriving, as evidenced by the 12 performances you’ll find in this week’s column. And here’s another positive development: after an exhaustive national search, Portland’s Regional Arts & Culture Council has appointed a new executive director:

Resilience and Strength in Glass

by STEPHANIE LITTLEBIRD The history and human heritage associated with glass working is a lengthy one. Boasting over 3,600 years of documented evolution as an art form, glass is something we rarely think about due to its ubiquitous nature. However, it is

Palmer’s got a brand new bag

Some years ago, Bag & Baggage Productions founding artistic director Scott Palmer was registering at a national theater conference and a staffer asked for his name. Palmer told him. “Palmer, Palmer,” the man said, trying to place him. “Oh yeah, you’re that

Coos Bay’s Everybody Biennial

COOS BAY – What if they gave a Biennial and invited everyone to join in? That’s not, of course, the way biennial art shows ordinarily work. From Venice to São Paulo to Shanghai to Sydney to Istanbul to Havana to Berlin to

MusicWatch Weekly: odd ensembles

The weather’s changing, the climate’s changing, the Congress is changing, our linens are changing (flannel sheet season FTW!) and ensembles coming through Oregon this week are changing the formula for chamber music. • Take the combo of violin, viola, drum, and DJ.

The ultimate gift for your family

Aging and dying may not usually be considered art, but you could argue that aging well – and perhaps dying, too — calls for a creative touch. And there’s no doubt that writing an obituary — at least an engaging, memorable obituary

Jennifer Higdon: updating classical music

In 2011, National Public Radio asked Pulitzer Prize winning American composer Jennifer Higdon where classical music was headed in the 21st century. In distinct contrast to her generally open-hearted music, Higdon’s answer seemed pessimistic: it almost implied that classical music might be

Short takes: Broadway to Reed

Here, there, and everywhere: * BROOKS ASHMANSKAS, the busy Broadway actor who grew up in Beaverton, has a new show in previews, and the New York Times has taken note. The four-hander musical comedy The Prom, which opens Thursday in the Longacre

Devilish Doings

by GARY FERRINGTON A young enlistee trades his fiddle to the devil in return for unlimited riches, a princess — and ultimately loss and grief. The Russian folk tale The Runaway Soldier and the Devil, which Igor Stravinsky and Swiss writer C.F

Choral Arts Ensemble & Cappella Romana: many ways of being many 

Portland’s choral scene is so abundant it has its own calendar. With such an bounty of choirs, it’s no surprise that they represent many different ways of singing together. Two concerts in October—Choral Arts Ensemble’s season opener on October 13 at Rose

Visions of art and science

By MALLORY PRATT How do we understand what we see? Inquiring minds have been considering this question for millennia, ever since early Homo lineages started making marks on cave walls. With the rise of empirical science in the past two hundred years,

‘La Traviata’: fallen woman rises again

by BRUCE BROWNE It is 1840s Paris and the population is booming. Just outside the gaslight’s glow, the new urban lady of the evening offers her talents. She is a courtesan and her life will become a fascination in the literary, visual

DramaWatch: Let the big dog play

“People like they historical shit in a certain way. They like it to unfold they way they folded it up. Neatly like a book. Not raggedy and bloody and screaming.” Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks isn’t big on folding things up neatly. And despite

MusicWatch Weekly: generation next

It’s probably too late for the next generations to save our planet from the greed and selfishness of their elders, but at least they’ll have music to console them. Young musicians, like young Americans in general, do give me what little hope

Nye Beach banners mark 10 years of flying their freak flag

Organizers can smile about it now, but 10 years ago, few involved in the fledgling Nye Beach Banner Project saw the humor. It all came down to one banner, the work of Rowan Lehrman. The front featured a topless woman painted in

Art review: A Coliseum for the New World

By BRIAN LIBBY When Portland’s Memorial Coliseum (as it was originally known) was completed in 1960, America was entering perhaps its most tumultuous decade, one of both tragedy and promise. The country sent its first troops to Vietnam, Martin Luther King, Jr.,

On tap: 200 years of Oregon beer

Oregon’s brewing industry is robust and growing, with nearly 300 breweries, hundreds of pubs and taprooms, and legions of fans thirsty for its hoppy, craft-brewed beers. But all that great beer had to start somewhere, so it’s instructive to put that pint

Having it all: Seven days of art in six Wine Country cities

I’ve looked at the calendar, done the math, calculated driving distances, and something hit me: Over the next week in six cities sprawled across three counties in Oregon wine country, there’s enough going on in the arts scene — live theater, exhibitions,

Byrd Ensemble review: corona of sound

by BRUCE BROWNE and DARYL BROWNE When a choral tone bath is washing over me, I smile broadly, sometimes even giggle. Can’t help it. It’s a visceral reaction to a corona of sound. It envelops the audience, draws us in. I smiled

Boom Arts: puppets from Kiev

In the Paris Theatre in Portland, Oregon, voices break through the darkness in a traditional Ukrainian arrangement. The lights come up on the five members of Teatr-Pralnia, all dressed in mustardy overalls. Next to each of them is a small faceless puppet

An Introvert’s Guide to Portland Book Festival 2018

By KATIE TAYLOR As a typical book-loving wallflower, I find festivals overstimulating and at times overwhelming, but when it comes to books, they’re important. In America, things loved by quiet people have a way of being ignored, shouted over, trampled on and

Art review: Resistance begins inside

By LUSI LUKOVA The Work Continues, at PCC Sylvania’s North View Gallery (the exhibition closed on Saturday), emerged from a unanimous functional depression felt by its six artists and two curators. We may easily guess the source of this unrest, even without

Rejoice! finds community in ‘A Midsummer Night at the Savoy’

With the premiere of A Midsummer Night at the Savoy, Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theater has created something that feels both timely—touching on race and migration, two issues at the forefront of America’s collective consciousness—and timeless, in that it hopscotches across countries and

Oregon Symphony preview: puppety ‘Petrushka’

This weekend, in the season’s first batch of SoundStories concerts, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra performs Petrushka in a puppety production directed by visual artist Doug Fitch. The OSO excels at this “classical-plus” sort of thing: classical music plus movies, classical music plus

DramaWatch: Giving you Moor of what you’re funkin’ for

“Othello’s rich, but she keeps me poor And now it’s time to settle the score She never lets me get my foot in the door And this is why I hate the Moor!” OK, so it ain’t exactly Shakespeare. But of course,

Bonnie Bronson 2024 Fellow Wendy Red Star Reed College Reception Kaul Auditorium Foyer Portland Oregon
Kalakendra Indian Classical Instrumental Music First Congregational Church Portland Oregon
Portland Center Stage at the Armory Nassim Portland Oregon
City of Hillsboro Walters Cultural Arts Center Tony Furtado Hillsboro Oregon
Maryhill Museum of Art Goldendale Washington
Portland State University College of the Arts
Portland Chamber Orchestra A Feast of Beethoven Kaul Auditorium Reed College Portland Oregon
PassinArt Theatre and Portland Playhouse present Yohen Brunish Theatre Portland Oregon
Golden Road Arts Grey Raven Gallery Near the Reser Beaverton Oregon
Triangle Productions presents Eleanor starring Margie Boule Portland Oregon
Pacific Maritime Heritage Center Prosperity of the Sea Lincoln County Historical Society Newport Oregon Coast
Newport Performance and Visual Arts Centers Newport Oregon Coast
Portland Art Museum Virtual Sneakers to Cutting Edge Kicks Portland Oregon
Portland Area Theatre Alliance Fertile Ground Portland Oregon
Northwest Dance Project Sarah Slipper Newmark Theatre Portland Oregon
High Desert Museum Sasquatch Central Oregon
Oregon Cultural Trust donate
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